Corolla project switches from hotel to homes

COROLLA, N.C.

Corolla will get a new neighborhood of massive homes instead of a hotel complex on beach front property once set aside for wildlife habitat.

As part of the deal, opponents of the hotel project will now become investing partners in the home development.

Following legal action by opponents, PIR Holding LLC owners Amit and Sumit Gupta agreed to build homes of 12 bedrooms or more on 13 acres of beach front property owned by the Audubon Society. PIR Holding will scrap plans for a 100-room hotel, retail shops and condos.

In exchange, Pine Island property owners and Turnpike Properties agreed to drop a court appeal opposing the hotel project. Turnpike Properties will replace previous investors who wanted a hotel and will partner with the Guptas on the beach home project, said Bill Hollan, chairman of Turnpike Properties.

It was a surprising switch after opponents had protested for months that a hotel was out of place and the development would wipe out habitat set aside for wildlife.

"Like every compromise, things may not be exactly what we wanted," Hollan said. "This is certainly much better than it would have been."

On Monday, commissioners agreed to amend the development ordinance to allow homes there.

"It is always better to avoid lawsuits if you can," Amit Gupta said.

In the 1990s, Turnpike Properties developed the adjacent Pine Island neighborhood and the Hampton Inn. The Pine Island Property Owners Association and Turnpike Properties had both filed appeals to a permit issued earlier this year by Currituck County commissioners allowing the hotel complex. The appeal would have gone to Currituck County Superior Court.

Audubon officials say the tract is squeezed between developments and has little use for conservation. Details of the sale have not been made public, but the property's tax value is $25 million. Audubon plans to use the money to upgrade public access and interpretation and to better manage about 5,000 acres of marsh land it owns on the Currituck Sound not far from the beach front tract. The marsh is the winter home for thousands of waterfowl.

The property remains zoned for limited business and a hotel, a designation that allows for 65 percent lot coverage, said Ben Woody, director of the Currituck County Planning Department. Residential zoning allows only for 30 percent lot coverage.

Typical homes in Corolla have five to six bedrooms. Pine Island homes average around six to eight bedrooms. Homes on this Audubon tract could be about 12 bedrooms, Woody said.

PIR Holding and Turnpike Properties sought to amend the development ordinance rather than rezone the property because of financing and contract deadlines, Hollan said.

"We are clearly grateful the county saw fit to view this as an exceptional case and allow it to proceed," he said.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com